Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy

Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy

The New Yorker magazine calls Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) treatment “The Blood Injections that Might Transform Orthopedics,” while the Wall Street Journal declared “Spinning Blood isn’t Just for Athletes.” That’s because PRP – which enhances the body’s ability to heal itself – has become an affordable, regenerative treatment for tissue or bone injuries. In short, it can help you heal faster, often allowing you to avoid surgery. Additionally, the treatment can be used in conjunction with surgery to reduce inflammation or bruising, increase your range of motion for rehab, and decrease scarring.

When your body is injured, it naturally sends platelets and white blood cells to initiate the healing process. The platelets contain growth factors which are released to stimulate a response in damaged tissues. By increasing the baseline concentration of platelets, PRP delivers a powerful dose of growth factors that can dramatically enhance the healing process.

The treatment takes place in a doctor’s office, surgery center or hospital, where a small amount of blood (typically 1 to 2 ounces) is extracted. Our specially trained technician then separates and concentrates the platelets using a tabletop device. Your blood is processed and prepared at or near your bedside, a process that takes approximately 15 to 20 minutes. The ABR technician assists and advises your surgeon in applying the concentration of platelets to your wound, surgical site, or injury site using the appropriate application technique.

Depending on your procedure, PRP may be applied in one of many ways. Similar to a cortisone shot, it can be injected directly into the injury site. But unlike cortisone, PRP actually speeds the healing process, rather than masks your pain.

During surgery, PRP generally is topically sprayed to control post-op oozing, to fixate small bone graft material, and to spread the concentrated growth factors under and around soft tissue and tissue grafts. After application, the high concentration of platelets kick starts the healing process at an accelerated pace, working to reduce post-op swelling, bruising, scarring, and pain, as well as to promote the formation of blood vessels to enhance new tissue growth or regeneration .

Often, you’ll feel an “achy” soreness after an injection – a positive sign that a healing response has been set in motion. Although strenuous activity should be avoided, you usually can resume normal day-to-day activities following injection.

Most patients respond to a single treatment. However, depending on the severity and duration of your injury, you may need up to three injections. You will be evaluated three to four weeks after receiving your initial injection, and a follow-up plan will be put in place. Injections also may be combined with an exercise or physical therapy program.

It might sound like science fiction, but PRP’s use is spreading. Applied in dental procedures since the 1970s, it has been used to treat the likes of basketball superstar Kobe Bryant, Seattle Mariners pitcher Cliff Lee, Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl players Troy Polamalu and Hines Ward, and golfer Tiger Woods.

ABR has been performing PRP for more than 15 years, and we have seen tremendous results from various surgical and non-surgical applications.

The body’s normal healing process is dependent upon blood flow. Whether an open cut or a micro tear in a tendon, the body signals for and recruits platelets to the area of injury, releasing growth factors and stem cells to initiate healing or regeneration. Today’s technology allows us to sequester and concentrate platelets from your blood and initiate the normal healing process, in an accelerated fashion, by increasing the baseline concentration of platelets by four to seven times. PRP delivers a powerful dose of growth factors to the injury site and enhances the healing process.

Sure. Whether you’re a professional athlete, a recreational sports enthusiast, or someone whose wounds take longer than usual to heal, the healing effects of PRP can be beneficial for you as well as a cost-effective way of avoiding surgery. If you suffer from chronic pain such as tennis elbow, severe Achilles tendonitis or osteoarthritis of the knee, to name just a few, you may be a candidate for PRP.

And if you do need surgery, your body goes through a lengthy healing process afterward. Although it calls up natural healing factors, sometimes they are not enough. By using PRP, surgeons now have a tool to significantly enhance the healing process and speed up recovery time.

Please discuss PRP as an option with your doctor, or one of our preferred providers, to better understand its benefits and whether or not it is a viable option for you. You should consider PRP if you are contemplating a procedure or surgery in any of the following areas: